L. C. Justice of the C. P. Speaker.

This Day Sir Orlando Bridgman Knight and Baronet,
Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, sat
Speaker, in the Absence of the Lord Chancellor of
England (he being sick), by virtue of a Commission
under the Great Seal of England for that Purpose;
which Commission was delivered to the Clerk of the
Parliaments, but not read.

The House was adjourned during Pleasure; and the
Peers went forth, to put on their Robes.

The King present.

His Majesty being present, fitting in His Royal
Throne, arrayed in His Regal Robes (the Peers being
likewise in their Robes), the Gentleman Usher of the
Black Rod was commanded to give the House of Commons Notice, that they should presently come up to
attend His Majesty, with their Speaker.

And accordingly, the House of Commons being present, His Majesty made this Speech following; (videlicet,)

The King's Speech.

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"When we parted last in this Place, I told you that
I did not think we should meet here again till November, though I prorogued you but to a Day in August.
But I must now tell you, that if I could have suspected, or reasonably have imagined, that our Neighbours
would have dealt so unneighbourly with Me, and
have forced Me to make such Preparations as they
have done for My Defence, at so vast an Expence;
I say, if I could have foreseen in August, that they
would have treated Me thus, I should not have prevented your coming together then. Yet truly I have
Reason even to be glad that it hath been deferred thus
long. You have had Leisure to attend your own
Conveniencies in the Country, and the Public Service
there; and I have been able to let our Neighbours
see, that I can defend Myself and My Subjects,
against their Insolence, upon the Stock of My own
Credit and Reputation; and that, when I find it necessary for the Good of My People, I can set out a
Fleet to Sea, which will not decline meeting with all
their Naval Power, even before the Parliament comes
together; which, I am persuaded, if they had believed possible, they would not so importunately have
prest Me to it. I will not deny to you, I have done
more than I thought I could have done; which I impute to the Credit your Vote gave Me, and to the
Opinion all Men have, that I did what you wished I
should do. By borrowing very liberally from Myself
out of My own Stores, and by the kind and chearful
Assistance the City of London hath given Me, I have
a Fleet now at Sea worthy of the English Nation, and
(to say no more) not inferior to any that hath been
set out in any Age, and which (that I may use all
Freedom with you) to discharge To-morrow, and replenish all My Stores, I am persuaded, would cost
Me little less than Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds."

"What hath passed between Me and the Dutch, and
by what Degrees, Accidents, and Provocations, I
have been necessitated to the Preparation and Expence
I have made, you shall be told when I have done.
I shall only tell you, that if I had proceeded more
slowly, I should have exposed My own Honour and
the Honour of the Nation, and should have seemed
not confident of your Affections, and the Assurance
you gave Me to stand by Me in this Occasion."

That which I am now very earnestly to desire, and
indeed expect from you, is, that you will use all
possible Expedition in your Resolutions; left that,
by unnecessary Formalities, the World should think
that I have not your full Concurrence in what is done,
and that you are not forward enough in the Support
of it; which I am sure you will be, and that, in
raising the Supplies, you take such sure Order, that
when the Expence is obvious and certain, the Supplies be as real and substantial, not imaginary as the
last Subsidies were, which you all well enough understand.

"Master Speaker, and you Gentlemen of the
House of Commons,

"I know not whether it be worth My Pains to endeavour to remove a vile Jealousy, which some ill
Men scatter abroad, and which I am sure will never
sink into the Breast of any Man who is worthy to sit
upon your Benches, that, when you have given Me a
noble and proportionable Supply for the Support of
a War, I may be induced by some evil Counsellors
(for they will be thought to think very (fn. 1) respectfully
of My own Person) to make a sudden Peace, and get
all that Money for My own private Occasions. I am
sure, you all think it an unworthy Jealousy, and not
to deserve an Answer. I would not be thought to
have so brutish an Inclination, as to love War for
War-sake. GOD knows, I desire no Blessing in this
World so much, as that I may live to see a firm
Peace between all Christian Princes and States: But
let Me tell you, and you may be most confident of it,
that when I am compelled to enter into a War, for
the Protection, Honour, and Benefit of My Subjects,
I will (GOD willing) not make a Peace but upon the
obtaining and securing those Ends for which the War
is entered into; and when that can be done, no good
Man will be sorry for the Determination of it."

"To conclude: My Lords and Gentlemen, I conjure you all, in your several Stations, to use all possible Expedition, that our Friends and our Enemies
may see that I am possessed of your Hearts, and that
we move with One Soul; and I am sure you will not
deceive my Expectation."

After this, His Majesty delivered a Narrative; which
was read, as followeth:

The King's Narrative concerning the Dutch Affairs.

"A brief Narrative of the late Passages between
His Majesty and the Dutch, and His Majesty's
Preparations thereupon."

"Charles R"

"His Majesty doth not doubt but that His Two
Houses of Parliament do well remember the Address
they made to His Majesty about the End of April
last, upon the general Representations which had
been made to them of the great Injuries and Oppressions the Subjects of this Nation sustained in the East
and West Indyes, and in other Places, from the Dutch,
and the universal Obstruction they brought upon the
Trade of this Kingdom; and the warm and vigorous
Vote they then presented His Majesty with, if He
could not otherwise remove that Mischief. The
Answer they received from His Majesty was so full of
Candour, as if He thought His good Allies The States
Generall would never put Him to use extreme Remedies, but would meet the Complaints of His Subjects
with just and proportionable Satisfaction; and that
He did really believe, as well as wish, that they
would do so, is manifest, by His having provided for
that Season a much less Guard of Ships than He had
set out ever since His happy Restoration, intending,
by the saving that unnecessary Expence (as He then
thought) to have plentifully supplied His Magazines
and Stores, which is a Treasure He hath always laboured to have still in Readiness by Him."

"His Majesty took this Occasion to require His Minister at The Hague to press The Sates Generall very
earnestly for Expedition in doing that Justice which
for above a Year He had in vain pressed them to do,
and in which, He told them, the Oppressions His
Subjects underwent could not bear longer Delay.
Instead of returning any Answer to His Majesty,
which for some Months they deferred to do, they with
great Passion and Noise sent Orders to their several
Admiralties, to prepare and equip a great Number
of Ships of War, the Number whereof they increased every Ten or Twelve Days; with unusual
Orders, that no Time should be lost in making the
Preparations, but that they should work Night and
Day, as well the Sundays as the other Part of the
Week; and great Numbers of Landmen were likewise appointed to be raised for their Expedition."

"This strange Kind of Treatment, together with
many rude Pamphlets and insolent Expressions, which
can hardly be prevented in Popular Governments,
prevailed with His Majesty (although He yet believed
Himself secure in the Wisdom of The States Generall
against any rash Attempt in the Violation of the
Peace) to take speedy Course for the putting Ten or
Twelve Ships into a Readiness (which yet He meant
should be no further than Rigging), if they should
pursue their present Distempers."

"In August, they received News that Captain Holmes,
who, with One of His Majesty's Ships, had (fn. 2) convoyed
some Merchants of the Royal Company to the Coast
of Guiney, had by Assault taken and possessed himself
of a Fort near Cape de Verte, belonging to their West
Indian Company; whereupon The States Generall sent
a wonderful brisk Message to the King, at once complaining of the Injury, and requiring, in very peremptory Terms, that His Majesty would forthwith
give Order for the Re-delivery of the said Fort to
them. The King assured the Ambassador, upon His
Princely Word, "That He had given no Commission
or Order to Captain Holmes for that Purpose, nor did
know upon what Grounds he had proceeded to that
Act of Hostility; that He expected him shortly at
Home; and that He would then proceed in a very
strict Examination of his Proceedings, and would
cause exemplary Justice to be done, as well in the
re-delivering the Fort, as in punishing the Person if
his Carriage and Demeanor deserved it." This Answer had no better Luck than the former Message:
New Orders for more Ships, for raising of Money,
for raising of Men, publishing in their Prints, that
what was done by Captain Holmes was by His Majesty's Warrant and Authority; and within a very
short Time after they had the Confidence to demand
of His Majesty, in express Terms, that He would
give it under His Royal Hand to them, that He
would cause the Fort to be delivered within such a
Time."

"His Majesty did not yet, after all these Provocations, lay aside all Hope of awakening The States
Generall to a more temperate Consideration of what
had passed. He desired them, in an Answer which
He made to some of their Propositions, and which
He transmitted to them under His own Hand by their
Ambassador, to reflect a little upon the Method of
their Proceeding with Him, and the Course He had
observed towards them: Not to mention those loud
Affronts, Indignities, and Injuries, He had put into
Oblivion in His late Treaty with them, He put them
in Mind that, since that Treaty, He had given them
Redress upon their Complaints, in many particular
Cases, with that Expedition, that He had not put
them to the Formalities even of Courts of Justice;
that, instead of any Return in this Kind from them,
His Minister at The Hague had importuned these
Eighteen Months for about Twenty Ships taken from
His Subjects upon the Coast of Guiney, and very
great Affronts and Damages sustained by others in
The East Indies, without any other Shadow of Right,
but being the stronger, and able to oppress. And
yet, since the Treaty required such Formalities in
the Demand of Reparations, how slow soever their
Justice was, He had thus long forborne to be His own
Carver. He wished them to consider, whether their
Order of Proceeding towards them had been pursuant to the Treaty, or agreeable to the Respect that
was due to Him: That, upon the First Information
of an Act of Violence committed by the Captain of
One of His Ships upon their Subjects, disowned and
disavowed by His Majesty Himself, and Justice and
Reparation being promised, they have upon the Point
declared War against His Majesty, in resolving to
recover by Force of Arms what they could not expect by the Course of Justice. He conjured The
States Gencrall to remember the Obligations of their
own Sovereignty, by which they entered into Alliances
with their Neighbour Princes: That, if they suffered
their particular Societies of Merchants to involve them
in a War with their Neighbour Nations for their
particular Interest and Benefit, and to support their
furious and extravagant assuming a Dominion against
the Law of Nations, (putting them in Mind, of what
He had often demanded Justice for, of the Declarations published by their Commanders both in the East
and West Indies, interdicting all Trade and Commerce
to all other Nations, to the Natives of those Countries, because they call them their Subjects,) they
would make themselves insupportable to their Neighbours, and their Friendship inconsistent with the Liberty of all the World but themselves."

"And, upon this Occasion, His Majesty thinks fit
that His Two Houses of Parliament should know the
very compendious Way these States have found out
to make themselves Monarchs of the sole Trade of the
whole East and West Indies. They have, it is very
true, by their very commendable Industry, and by
other Acts of horrible Injustice and Cruelty, planted
themselves in stronger Factories than any Prince in
Europe hath done, especially in The East Indyes, where
their Naval Power is very great. When they find the
Natives inclined to traffic with other Nations, as they
do generally desire to do, being in Truth universally
weary of the Yoke the Dutch lay upon them, some
Dutch Ships are sent to lie before those Ports, and
then declare that they are in War with this or that
Prince or that City, and thereupon inhibit all other
Nations to have any Traffic or Commerce with them;
and, by this new Reason of State, they inhibited and
restrained the English Ships, under the Command of
the Earl of Marleborough, Two Years since, to go to
Porcatt, and to take in a great Cargason of Goods
provided there by the East Indyan Company here,
and forced His Majesty's Ships to return empty Home:
And being exalted with this Success in the East, they
have published the same Declaration in the West Indyes, and not only hindered the English Boats and
other Vessels from going on Shore to traffic with the
Natives, but have very frankly sent to some of the
Factories, requiring them to remove from the Places
they are in, because they are resolved they shall not
live so near them: And, after all this, to shew how
good Neighbours they would be at any Distance, they
hired the King of Fantine, at the Price of a great
Sum of Money, Arms and Ammunition, to surprize
His Majesty's Fort at Cormantine, which He endeavoured to do, by Two strong Assaults; but, being
driven off with Loss, He confessed, with Sorrow and
Shame for His own Insidelity, being in Terms of
Friendship with the English, that He had been corrupted by the Dutch to that Undertaking: His Majesty's Garrison having had the good Fortune to surprize a good Part of the Arms, Ammunition, and
Grenadoes, which the Dutch sent to the Natives.
When the King complained to them of this infamous
and treacherous Proceeding of their chief Officers in
those Parts, of which He hath as full Evidence as He
can have that there are English and Dutch Ships on
that Coast, or that He hath a Fort called Cormantine,
they do assure Him, "That His Majesty is misinformed,
and desire Him not to give any Credit to it; for that
they have received Letters from their Commanders
there, which mention no such Thing, and which informs them that the King of Fantine had taken a particular Exception to the English Governor;" taking no
Notice that the King had likewise charged them, that
their Ships came at the same Time, and lay before
the Fort, kept several of the English Vessels and Boats
from landing, and took the Boats, and kept the
Men Prisoners, till they found the Enterprize had
miscarried."

"To conclude: His Majesty used all the Arguments
He could, to decline these hostile Preparations, and
to berake themselves to those Ways for the Preservation of the Public Peace as were prescribed by the
Treaty; assuring them, that as He expected Reparation for the Damages His Subjects had sustained, and
Security for the future against the like Excesses, so
He was as ready to give them all the Satisfaction for
any Injuries done to them, which Justice could require."

"The Answer they gave His Majesty to His Expostulation for their so sudden giving Direction for the
Provision of so many Ships of War, only upon His
demanding Justice for Injuries done, and Damages
sustained, ought to be made known to you. They
answered, "It was easy to judge how much they were
troubled and surprized by the Tricks and Devices of
those that forestalled the Parliament of England, and
had obliged them by evil Informations to carry such
sharp Complaints against them and their Country to
His Majesty; and therefore it was not strange that,
in the Unquietness and Disturbance which the Animosity of the Parliament did give them, they had
prepared an extraordinary Equipage, to be upon their
Guard."

"When the King found that His moderate Way of
Proceeding was so far from abating any of their Preparations, that it did but render them the more confident and exalted; and the Ambassador himself had
told His Majesty, "That they had given Instructions
to the Admiral of their Flect, that was then going
for Guiney, to take their Fort near Cape de I'erte by
Force, and to take any English which had had a
Hand in doing them Injury;" His Majesty gave
speedy Directions for the setting out those Ships to
Sea, towards which He had before only made some
light Preparations; and declared that He would send
His Cousin Prince Rupert Admiral of that Fleet, to
protect His Subjects upon the Coast of Guiney. This
was no sooner known and published amongst them,
than in Truth their Choler somewhat seemed abated,
though their Preparations were not diminished: And
they then sent, "That they had a wonderful Desire
to preserve the Peace between the Two Nations, and
to prevent the Effusion of Christian Blood, which
would probably happen, if, in a Conjuncture of so
much Jealousy, Two such Fleets as were now prepared for Guiney should meet in those Seas;" and
thereupon proposed, that the Fleets on either Side
might be detained within the Harbours, and not sus-
fered to put to Sea; and that some Expedients might
be found out by Treaty for each other's Satisfaction,
they having, at the same Time when they made this
plausible Overture, sent Orders to their Fleet in The
Streights, under the Command of De Ruyter, to
make all possible Haste to Guiney, to execute all those
Instructions which they had given to their Fleet here,
which they seemed to be contented, upon those Motives of Charity, should remain in their Ports; and
it is now about Two Months since De Ruyter left The
Streights upon that Expedition, since which Time
they have done all within their Power to make their
other Fleets ready to convoy each other through The
Channell, and which, by the Blessing of GOD, in the
cross Winds, they have been hitherto restrained from
doing; and now His Majesty is very willing they
should attempt it."

"It is a very unpleasant Circumstance to His Majesty,
in these Proceedings, to find that it hath been in the
Power of the Dutch West Indian Company to involve
their own and this Country in a War, without the
Consent or Privity of The States Generall, whose
alone Security His Majesty hath for the Preservation
of the Peace between the Two Nations. And His
Majesty is well assured, that The States Generall have
given no Order for this Expedition of De Ruyter,
though their Subjects in general are like to be Sufferers in the War thus made by them; for it cannot
be imagined but that His Majesty will take all the
Ways He can, that He may have wherewithal in His
Hands to satisfy His good Subjects for the Damages
He expects to hear, after this Denunciation of a War,
they have sustained by De Ruyter on the Coast of
Guiney and other Places; and another Damage and
Indignity which, there is too much Cause to fear, we
shall shortly hear of concerning Polaroone; for,
though His Majesty cannot expressly say that the
Delivery of it up is denied to that Ship which is gone
to receive it, yet, by the Carriage of the Governor
of Batavia to that Ship and the Officers thereof in
its Passage to Polaroone, and upon the Discourse of
that Subject, there is too great a Presumption that
it is not yet delivered up, and in Truth that the
East Indya Company in Holland never intended it
should be."

"The States Generall having likewise begun, without
Colour of Right, by an Embargo of Ships bound for
this Kingdom, and driven into their Ports by the Foulness of the Weather, as particularly a Swedish Ship
laden with Masts and Cordage bound for London,
upon the Account of several English Merchants here."

"This being the true State of what hath passed in
this Affair; and His Majesty having been, by these
furious Proceedings, and, in Truth, Denunciation of
a War against Him, forced to put Himself into the
Posture He is now in, for the Defence of His Subjects, at so vast an Expence, doth not in the least
Degree doubt but that His Two Houses of Parliament will chearfully enable Him to prosecute the War
with the same Vigour He hath prepared for it, by
giving Him Supplies proportionable to the Charge
thereof."

"C. R."

Thanks to the King, for making Preparations against the Dutch.

Upon this, it is ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual
and Temporal assembled in Parliament, That the humble Thanks of this House shall be presented to His Majesty, by the Lord Chamberlain, Earl of Bridgwater,
Bishop of London, Lord Berkley of Berkley, Lord Mohun, and Lord Ashley, for His Majesty's Gracious Speech
and Narrative to His Two Houses of Parliament, and
for His great Care in the Preservation of the Honour,
Safety, and Trade of this Nation, by His Preparation
for their Defence against the Dutch; and that His Majesty be desired to give Leave that His Speech may be
printed.

The Concurrence of the House of Commons to be
desired herein.

Thanks to the City of London, for their Aid to the King.

ORDERED, by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal
assembled in Parliament, That the Thanks of this House
shall be given unto the City of London, by Six Lords,
for their Forwardness in assisting His Majesty, and in
particular by furnishing Him with several great Sums of
Money, towards His Preparation for the Honour, Safety,
and Trade of this Nation.

The Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Bridgwater,
Bishop of London, Lord Berkley of Berkley, the Lord
Mohun, and the Lord Ashley, are appointed Committees
for this House for this Purpose also.

And the Concurrence of the House of Commons is
to be desired herein.

Message to H. C. to concur in these Thanks.

A Message was sent to the House of Commons, by
Sir William Childe and Sir Justinian Lewyn:

To let them know, that this House hath made Two
Orders; One, to give Thanks to the King, another, to
give Thanks to the City; for which Purpose, the Lords
have nominated a Committee of Six Lords for those
Ends, and desire the Concurrence of the House of
Commons; and that they would nominate a proportionable Number of their Members to join with those
Lords.

Message from them, for Thanks to be returned to the King.

A Message came from the House of Commons, by
Secretary Morrice and others:

To acquaint their Lordships with a Vote, "That
humble and hearty Thanks be returned to His Majesty, for His Gracious Speech and Narrative concerning the Dutch Affairs, which He hath been pleased to communicate to both His Houses of Parliament; and for His Majesty's great Care of the Honour and Interest of this Kingdom;" and that their
Lordships Concurrence is desired therein.